The first Hog Days pork chop has been served

The honor of munching on the first pork chop served during the Hog Capital Festival used to be the mayor's; now the festival queens get the first chops off the grill.

Dave Clarke

For almost every one of the past 25 years I’ve reported to the pork chop tent when they open for the Hog Festival weekend to take a picture of a queen (or queens and runners-up) ceremonially biting into the first chops of the long weekend to come. Yesterday was no exception as pageant director Kaye Finney arrived at 5 p.m., when the serving of 30,000 sandwiches begins, with 2013 Miss World Festival Abigail Brown, Junior Miss World Festival Jordan VanMelkebeke, Little Miss World Festival Natalie Cone’ and their respective courts in tow. Kaye retrieved a sack full of the first butterfly pork chop sandwiches off the grill from the food tent and passed the complimentary chow around. Photo op ensues.I thought back the other day to how the tradition of opening the festival with news coverage of someone eating the first pork chop sandwich got started. Not news, you say? You must be new to Hog Days.I can’t remember the year, but I know the first person to agree to perform the honor was Mayor Emerit F. Lindbeck Sr., who served from 1959 to 1975. That means I was probably working at the radio station and there wasn’t even a photo involved.I remember coming up with the idea of covering someone eating the first pork chop, even though it probably wasn’t the first piece of meat off the grill. It was the symbolism of gluttony unleashed. Who better to do the honors than the mayor? Lindbeck was always a good sport and went along with the idea. Since it was radio, there was play-by-play but no one actually saw it happen other than those who were there.The mayor always had a comment about how good the chops were — probably bone-in back then — which we taped. It made a good sound bite (pun intended) to kick off our Hog Days coverage. Butterfly pork chops and pork patties were added to the Hog Days menu in later years.After Lindbeck left office I can’t remember any other mayors continuing the tradition, but there may have been a few. His successor, Dr. Edward “Doc” Goetzman was a no-nonsense, all business mayor and probably would have seen a free pork chop sandwich as a bribe of some sort. I went from the radio station to the Star Courier in 1978 and, again, I can’t remember anyone in particular chomping down on the first chop of the weekend. Al Hill was always a people’s mayor and might have done it when he was in office. When the Hog Festival Committee started the Miss World Festival pageant in 1988 the idea was revived — I can’t remember if by me or someone on the pageant committee — to make the new queen’s first task of the weekend to taste the product, to make sure it was safe for the rest of us, I suppose.It helps give the festival an official starting point — a ribbon cutting of sorts, and there’s plenty for the rest of us — so let’s start eating!

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